It all made perfect sense now, and he knew that it was going to take a lot to get Elli past that, but he didn’t care. Shea would be there, he would be patient, he would love her, and one day, he just knew she would love him back.

Elli thought men like Shea Adler didn’t exist, but they did.

Shea had laid beside her in bed watching movies all day, as she tried to recover from the awful hangover she had.

Damn tequila.

She was never drinking again, she swore.

The night before was a blur. She remembered everything up to singing Carrie Underwood, but after that it was a blur. Shea said that she was puking all over the sidewalk of West End Ave, which was lovely, considering that was the classier side of Nashville. She remembered seeing Justin, but not wanting to fight him like Harper had said she wanted to.

That was another reason she was never drinking again, she didn’t remember anything after a certain point!

Shea was so good to her, though, bringing her crackers and rubbing her back when she would get nauseous. He was genuinely a great guy and Elli didn’t know how she got so lucky to have met him.

The next day, they went to see Grace and the kids at the Adventure Science Center after Shea’s practice. They had such a great time, even though Elli was still a little sick from the day before. Afterwards, they went to Publix to go grocery shopping for the next day before Shea needed to go home for a nap. Elli decided she wanted to make a Christmas dinner with all the fixings, since she wouldn’t see her friends until after the holidays. She got the biggest ham they had since Shea, Jakob, Derrick, and Walter would be there, and they ate as much as an army.

After unloading the groceries, Elli started to clean while Shea washed his clothes from his suitcase. It was so domestic. They would move around each other with ease. He would ask if she knew where something was and most of the time she did. Living there for the past month had been so easy. She knew his condo inside and out and now that he was home with her, moving around the house with her, she really didn’t seem as scared as she was before about moving in with him.

She wasn’t sure what had changed in the last two weeks, but something had, so maybe she would consider it. Or maybe she would just keep things like they are, because God knew her daddy and Papa would freak when they found out. The thought sent chills down her spine. She couldn’t even imagine it because when she moved in with Justin, they flipped, but her mother took care of them and Elli didn’t even have to deal with it. But now, she’s pretty sure ‘the shit would hit the fan,’ as the saying goes.

Elli was in the kitchen defrosting the ham by soaking it in warm water when Shea came up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist. She smiled as he ran his lips up her neck, nipping at her ear lobe.

“So my dining room looks like something out of Country Living, the ‘Christmas Edition’,” he said, causing her to giggle.

“I know. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, I like it. It’s just new. So are the Christmas candles you have everywhere.”

“I know, but I want it to be pretty when everyone comes tomorrow. I love Christmas,” she gushed as she leaned into him.

“I know, but we’re missing something.”

She turned in his arms, looking up at him.

“What?”

“A Christmas tree,” he said, “go look in the living room.”

She beamed up at him before heading into the living room, to see a good size tree sitting in the corner by the TV with bags and boxes of stuff sitting beside it. It was her stuff from her house. She had wanted to go get all of it, but she had been too busy.

“I usually don’t set up for Christmas, since I’m never home anyway, but Harper had said the other day that it was a big deal for you. So I had her go get your stuff for me. She just dropped it off.”

“Oh, Shea,” she gushed, covering her mouth as she turned to look at him, “You’re spectacular.”

“Spectacular, huh?”

She nodded before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him hard. When she parted from him, she clapped her hands together with a little hop.

“I can’t wait to get started after the game!”

Elli stood in the middle of Shea’s living room, basking in the winter wonderland they had created the night before. All her stuff fit perfectly in his living room. Shea had filled the windows with white lights, covered the bases of the windows with her fake snow puff, placing the candles in the middle of it, along with glitter. They placed every single one of her snowmen out, and there were a lot of them, since that was her favorite Christmas decoration.

When they decorated the tree, Elli’s heart just filled with such love at the act. She had never decorated a tree with a man, and Shea was the perfect man for her first time. He asked a question about every ornament she had. Elli had been collecting Primitive ornaments since she was 14. Growing up, she always had a Christmas tree in her room. So she had a lot of old ornaments, and it was nice to remember each one. Elli was convinced he enjoyed it, because afterwards he said they should go to the store to pick out some for him. She couldn’t agree more, which made him smile.

They had hung some of her Christmas photos she had done when she was in college, too. There was one of candy canes made to look like a heart, “love” written in the snow, and then one of her making a snow angel. She was admiring the one of her when Shea came into the living dressed for her friends who were coming over.

He was wearing a pair of nice khaki dress pants with a dark red button up dress shirt. The first two buttons weren’t buttoned, his hair was done spiky, and he had his glasses on, something that still made her heart skip a beat. Even though the guys had lost the night before, he had a smile on his face.